Michael Jurkowitz, son of Dan and Lisa Jurkowitz, will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Dec. 22, at Congregation Anshei Israel. He is the grandson of Chaya and Harvey Jurkowitz of Tucson and Joan and Andre Klein of Phoenix. Michael attends Alice Vail Middle School, where he plays… Read more »
Mourners embrace during a processional outside of Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh for the funeral of Joyce Fienberg, who was killed at the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, Oct. 31, 2018. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Eliot Engel, a Democrat who reviles President Donald Trump, and Lee Zeldin, a Republican who eagerly embraces the president, happen to have plenty in common. They are Jewish congressman from New York known for their pro-Israel leadership, and they share a distant relative. They were also… Read more »
Murray Lee standS outside his London real estate agency, Dec. 13, 2018. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
LONDON (JTA) — Two and half years ago, Murray Lee voted in favor of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. A Jewish real-estate agent from northern London, Murray shared the concerns of many in the leave camp over the United Kingdom’s perceived vulnerability to Europe’s immigration problems. If… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Albania has expelled two Iranian diplomats, reportedly due to to their involvement in a plan to attack a soccer match featuring the Israeli team. Albania expelled Amb. Gholamhossein Mohammadnia and a diplomat, accusing them of “involvement in activities that harm the country’s security” and for “violating… Read more »
(JTA) — A senior lawmaker for Britain’s Labour Party who was facing sexual harassment allegations has quit the party, citing its anti-Semitism problem. Ivan Lewis , who is Jewish, resigned on Thursday from Labour, where he had served as chief whip — a post whose duties include enforcing coalition… Read more »
(Michael Jacobs/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images)
This article originally appeared on The Nosher. What a year — delis opened, delis closed, we talked about rainbow bagels, and reviewed the history of pickles in America. And now it’s time to look ahead to what will be happening in Jewish food for the coming year. Bread is Back For all of you… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Airbnb executive visited the West Bank and met with Jewish settlement leaders amid criticism of its decision to remove Jewish-owned properties in the disputed territories from its short-term rental listings. Chris Lehane, head of global policy and public affairs for the company, met Tuesday with senior… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The ceremony was cozy formal: Yes there was a color guard and a military band, but the Supreme Court justice brought along her personal trainer, and one of the speakers introduced Ruth Bader Ginsburg as “The Notorious RBG.” The Department of Homeland Security randomly selected 31… Read more »
Tim Kalkhof plays a German man who falls in love with a married Israeli man in "The Cakemaker." (Strand Releasing)
LOS ANGELES (JTA)– Israel’s more than half-century courtship to win an Oscar for best foreign-language film will continue past 2019. Since submitting its first entry — and winning its first nomination — for “Sallah” in 1964, Israel has made the short list of top nominees 10 times, without ever… Read more »
Brazil's president-elect Jair Bolsonaro, left, with Israel's Ambassador to Brazil, Yossi Shelley. ((Courtesy of Israel's honorary consul in Rio)
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Following years of diplomatic tensions, Israel and Brazil appear set to place their relationship on a new footing with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit, the first for a sitting prime minister. Netanyahu was invited to attend incoming President Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration on Jan. 1.… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli forces arrested over 100 Palestinians over the past weekend as part of an anti-terror crackdown launched in the wake of last week’s uptick in terror activity in the West Bank.“There were 100 arrests over the weekend, and another 36 yesterday,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced… Read more »
The Laemmle theater chain offers a new Christmas option for Jews. (Courtesy of Laemmle.com)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Sick of eating Chinese food and taking in another modern blockbuster on Christmas, while your Christian friends party together with sweets and eggnog? Thanks to the imagination of Greg Laemmle, co-owner of a chain of eight art house cinemas bearing his family name in greater… Read more »
David Shrayer-Petrov outside of the Brookline Booksmith store in November, where he and the translators of "Doctor Levitin" spoke to a crowd. (Courtesy of Maxim Shrayer)
BROOKLINE, Massachusetts (JTA) — The well-worn books that fill the shelves in David Shrayer-Petrov’s living room reveal the remarkable literary life of the influential refusenik, who has left his mark both as a distinguished physician and as an acclaimed writer. Among the volumes are works by literary lights of… Read more »
Alice Walker at the "The Color Purple" Broadway opening night at The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York City, Dec. 10, 2015. (Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Alice Walker has come under intense criticism after endorsing a book by anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist David Icke. In an interview with The New York Times Book Review, Walker — who is best known for her book “The Color Purple,” detailing the hardships of African-American women in… Read more »
Andrew Rehfeld will serve as HUC’s 13th president. (Courtesy of HUC) NEW YORK (JTA) —The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion has appointed Andrew Rehfeld, a political science professor who has led the Jewish Federation of St. Louis since 2012, to serve as its 13th president. On Tuesday, the Reform movement’s flagship seminary said Rehfeld would lead its four campuses in… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Pink Floyd cover band announced on Tuesday that its upcoming Israel tour is back on after cancelling due to pressure from BDS advocate Roger Waters, co-founder of the original Pink Floyd. On Sunday UK Pink Floyd Experience cancelled its shows in Tel Aviv, Haifa and… Read more »
(JTA) — The internal political fallout over the murder of dissident Jamal Khashoggi may damage Saudi Arabia’s budding unofficial ties with Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The newspaper cited the dismissal of two senior advisers to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who were intimately involved in forging ties between… Read more »
A stunning new facsimile of the 14th-century Sarajevo Hagaddah was on display, and for sale, by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina,in the exhibit hall at the Association of Jewish Studies convention. ( Penny Schwartz)
BOSTON (JTA) — Diversity and inclusion were among the hot topics at the 50th annual convention of the Association of Jewish Studies, where some 1,200 Jewish studies scholars gathered for a three-day conference that began here Sunday. Fifty years to the month after a handful of scholars in the… Read more »
(JTA) — The latest honor for Jewish actor Kirk Douglas came in the upstate New York town where he was raised on his 102nd birthday. Friend and relatives gathered in Amsterdam on Sunday to unveil a historic marker for a sign that will say that Douglas, 102, “Rose From Poverty To… Read more »
Dave Nicholls, seated, rides in the bobsled. (Courtesy of Nicholls)
NEW YORK (JTA) — In the span of just a couple days, Chaim Raice went from never having been on a bobsled to being a contender to represent Israel in the 2022 Winter Olympics. And it all started with a Facebook post. Raice, a house builder based in Pomona,… Read more »
